Keepin’ It Real Thursday: The Villages

So what’s on my mind this Thursday as I seek to Keep it Real? (For a history of Keepin’ it Real Thursdays, click here and here.I want to move to The Villages, Florida’s Friendliest Hometown. Yes, it’s a retirement community, but so what? Have you seen their ads? “Golf Free for the rest of your life,” the announcer says as an aerial camera surveys well-manicured fairways below lined with palm trees. “Enjoy free lifetime memberships in all of our country clubs, including the Arnold Palmer and Nancy Lopez signature courses.””Lifetime” for their target audience is not terribly generous. I could get my money’s worth. There’s more. “Start living a millionaire’s lifestyle on a retirement budget.” When I did that before I was married, I racked up tons of debt. But these people are all smiling, so they’re not worried about bankruptcy. And what’s the millionaire’s lifestyle? Here, the video is particularly helpful: dancing with a younger woman, making a wooden lawn chair in the carpenter’s shop, and doing the Fosbury flop over a high jump bar at a local running track. Who wouldn’t want that for their retirement?